Looking at the latest Lifeboat magazine I am reminded how often there are reports of yachts being recovered and towed or sailed to safety by the lifeboat crew long after their own crews had given up and called for help. Sometimes they have suffered engine failure; sometimes they are aground on a rising tide or simply the crew are lost and seasick. I wasn’t there on any of these occasions and perhaps, in their place, I’d have done just the same, but it is well to remember how big a part is played by the state of mind of the crew in any desperate-seeming situation. The lifeboat men never give in: they are trained and experienced. There have been times when, if help had been there to be called upon, I would have done so. When it wasn’t, I found a way out. On none of these occasions was it equal to being aground on a lee shore in force 8 or more — the situation supposed in an old guide I have for those taking the Board of Trade Yachtmaster’s ticket. They were expected to know what to do. This sequence makes a splendid read. When the questioner comes to “there is no possible place to beach the boat” at the end of a succession of ever-increasing disasters, the candidate protests that he would never have allowed his ship to get into such a situation. That is the only way of approaching the problem: avoid it before it happens!

I’m sorry that I have not had room this time for some of the very good articles which have come in during the winter. I am sure that eventually all will be published. JA